I am
an Amazon.Com
customer - have been since Jeff
Bezos launched it in 1995. It's still evolving as an innovative
on-line commerce platform. They
have initiated a socially responsible program worth noting.
Today
my visit to the site opened with a letter from Jeff – about an
investment in the future. He announced a focused scholarship program
for their employees who want to change fields.
Scholarship
programs are not new – many organizations and agencies have had
them for years - but Amazon's is targeted to professions which are in
critical demand in the country. Jeff describes the program:
We're
announcing the
Amazon Career Choice Program.
Many
of our fulfillment center employees will choose to build their
careers at Amazon. For others, we're
offering to pre-pay 95% of the cost of courses such as aircraft
mechanics, computer-aided design, machine tool technologies, medical
lab technologies, nursing, and many other fields - exclusively
funding education only in areas that are well-paying and in high
demand according to sources like the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics,
and we fund those areas regardless of whether those skills are
relevant to a career at Amazon.
Amazon's
initiative contributes in a positive way to retraining individuals
for needed roles in the country, and invests in their employees, even
if the firm doesn't benefit directly.
Way to go, Jeff!
What
other ways could organizations make a positive difference in the
national or local economy?
1 comment:
Jeff Bezos consistently works in a much bigger box than his peers.
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